Game in PureBasic: Izzy the Busy Squirrel

[bmon]

Hello ...
Here is my first game created in PureBasic. It's called "Izzy the Busy Squirrel" and although it's nothing too fancy, it is quite fun to play and try to win. I haven't tested it on a lot of systems other then Windows XP and Vista (I did need to install the Direct X 9.0 for Vista) but it seems to work pretty well. I have a timed-demo version of the game available to download for free as well as a video of the game in action. If anyone has a chance to take a look it would be much appreciated.

My website does require that you have Flash installed ... Sorry
Game Instructions: http://www.pencilwedgees.com/games.html (also included with the game)
Game Video: http://www.pencilwedgees.com/play_IzzyTutorial.html
Game Demo: http://www.pencilwedgees.com/store.html ---> Select the download link "IzzyInstaller.exe" about 12 Mb.

Just download "IzzyInstaller.exe" to your computer and follow the prompts to install. The installation is really just extracting files from a compressed archive. Nothing is changed/added to your registry or anything. To delete the game from your computer just delete the folder that it creates and that's it. Please let me know if you run into any problems or if anything isn't clear on what to do. Thanks a bunch!

Bruce Monahan http://www.pencilwedgees.com e-mail: bmonahan@pencilwedgees.com

[Kuron]

Very cute looking game. I will download it and give it a try this weekend when I have some free time.

[Ramihyn_]

It does indeed look nice

[akj]

Suggestions for enhancement:

1. The M key should work on EVERY screen including the opening screen.
Please, please, please!

2. When a message pops up, currently only the 'c' key removes it. Any key
should be permitted to remove the message.

3. A high score table should be included.

4. To make the game harder, occasionally one of the acorns should have it's
number hidden before being planted in the ground. The number could be
replaced by a blank space or a by question mark or a by smudge of colour
that would partly hide the number so that the player could not be certain of
it's value. The number would be fully revealed on digging up the acorn.

5. To make the game harder, if the player digs up two acorns that do not
total ten, then if possible, exactly one of those acorns should [sometimes]
be returned to a different hole from which it was dug up. The player should
be aware of this happening.

6. To make the game easier, each time the player successfully finds all the
matching 10-pairs without any error, he should, if he wishes, be permitted
to peek at the number on one acorn, perhaps by scaping away the soil above it.

[dman]

Hey Bruce!

What a fun game Excellent example of what you can achieve using PureBasic

[bmon]

Thanks everyone for the responses so far!

@Anthony - I appreciate your comments and you have a lot of good ideas. The suggestions on how to make things a bit harder are very devious ... I like it! Thank you my friend for taking the time to respond.

Once again I do appreciate all the comments ...

[Kuron]

1. I like the installer you are using. Simple, effective and does the job well. I don't recognize it. What installer is this?
2. The graphics are awesome.
3. I love the concept. This game is simply FUN and has a great replay value. This is a really good game.


~ You might want to consider contacting a couple of the major portals. They might have an interest in this.
~ Mobile versions. This game might do well on the iPad and iPod touch and Android devices. I know if it was available for the Kindle Fire, I would buy it.


I am always testing games for folks, but this is the first game in a long time that I have had such fun with one of the games I am testing. You have done a very good job on this!!

[dman]

Yeah, A mobile version will be excellent

May i suggest using Monkey (http://www.monkeycoder.co.nz) from Blitz Research if you go down this route

[Kuron]

Yeah, A mobile version will be excellent

May i suggest using Monkey (http://www.monkeycoder.co.nz) from Blitz Research if you go down this route

I would advise against that. GLBasic would be a much better choice.

[bmon]

Thanks for the kind words!

The installer is just something that I created. I tried to keep it as simple and fool-proof as possible although if you dig too dip you might actually break it ...

Thanks for the suggestion of possibly also creating a mobile version of it. I have been looking around a bit for some possible solutions. Of course I would probably have to switch it from 3d to 2d in order to do that ... but that's not too much of problem. I have been looking at AGK kit as well. This code-once-deploy-on-multiple-platforms software is created by the same people who brought you Dark Basic(The Game Creators). Looks interesting but it is still kinda new. Thanks for the other software suggestions. I will take a look to see what they are about as well.

Again I very much appreciate everyone taking time out to take a look and offer suggestions ...

[Kuron]

The installer is just something that I created. I tried to keep it as simple and fool-proof as possible although if you dig too dip you might actually break it ...

Extremely good job on this!!

Of course I would probably have to switch it from 3d to 2d in order to do that ...

Not if you used GLBasic. It is capable of 3D on mobile devices. There are reasons that GLBasic has more published mobile games than the Blitz and Dark Basic mobile development language offerings.

Mobile 3D game made in GLBasic:

Info on the game and screenshots
Postmortem

[Kuron]

By the way, I put my money where my mouth is and purchased the game (order is in my wife's name). It is my birthday today and this is one of my presents.

[bmon]

Thank you for your support! I sent an e-mail describing how to disable the timer but directed all my salutations to your wife ... hehehe! I won't tell if you don't.

Please let me know if you have any problems. I have downloaded GLBasic to see what it is about but haven't had the chance to play with it yet. Thank you for your tip regarding this language. Although I think that PureBasic is really a FANTASTIC programming language and well worth every penny, there are times you might have to venture somewhere else to accomplish some things.

Bruce

[dman]

@Kuron

GLBasic - I downloaded the demo, it certainly looks good and has some nice features, particularly the network module which
is greatly needed for Monkey.

It's good, but GLBasic has been going much longer than Monkey and AGK, so that will contribute to the greater
number of games published.

Monkey is still very young, but in a short space of time it has greatly improved, including the new OpenGL module.
The Monkey language is based on Java and is easy to learn, read also very easy to add new features.

Monkey allows for Flash and HTML5 development whereas GLBasic sadly does not.

It is a difficult decision and I personally like both GLBasic and Monkey, but I do believe in the future Monkey will
ultimately be the best investment, time will tell.

[Kuron]

Thank you for your support! I sent an e-mail describing how to disable the timer but directed all my salutations to your wife ... hehehe! I won't tell if you don't.

Please let me know if you have any problems. I have downloaded GLBasic to see what it is about but haven't had the chance to play with it yet. Thank you for your tip regarding this language. Although I think that PureBasic is really a FANTASTIC programming language and well worth every penny, there are times you might have to venture somewhere else to accomplish some things.

Bruce

Hey, that is my email address (we share the account), that was me you were flirting with! j/k

Registration was easy, and it is working great.

I do have one complaint though, and it is my only complaint. Keyboard control!! I wish there was the option to use the mouse for everything (menu & game control). On the menu, I find myself clicking the image of the buttons out of habit. Of course for positioning Izzy, this would require him to walk on his own to the clicked spot to drop/bury items. I have an admittedly eclectic taste in games, but the majority of everything I play is mouse-based nowadays. The exception is some of the retro games via emulators, but I usually use a joypad for that. Please note this is merely a complaint, not a demand for a change.

PB is inarguably fantastic. Unfortunately, if you want to develop for mobile platforms, you do have to look elsewhere.

GLB has the advantage of being very complete and can handle 2d & 3d. It has also been around for several years, has been put through the paces, is well established and new platforms are usually added fairly quickly, and bugs are usually addressed in an extremely timely manner.

AGK, is still relatively new, but is 2D only which is a departure for those folks. Unless you want to use C++, the BASIC aspect is purely interpreted at runtime which I can only imagine how slow that could be on a mobile platform. This would be something I would have to see. Unfortunately, AFAIK, there is no try before you buy with AGK.

Monkey is very immature and many would argue it still doesn't properly support 2d. However, it is still new enough that Mark hasn't lost interest in it yet and started on another new language, and is still actively working on improving Monkey. Monkey is designed in a way that the community can provide the missing pieces, which is generally a good thing and is what helped BlitzMax immensely.

Personally, although I have done some contract work for mobile projects, I have had zero interest in mobile development for my own needs up until now. However, thanks to a Kindle Fire, I do have an interest in mobile development for my own needs. I am not in a position to afford new software (still paying off wifey's medical bills) so I would probably stick with GLB for my needs since I already own it. However, I am very interested in seeing what AGK has to offer. I may have to find some AGK created games to test out.

Although not games-specific, Basic4android is a very lovely language. I do not own a copy, but I have used it for some contract work. There are OpenGL libraries available for it, if you wanted to go games and were willing to put in some elbow grease. Very good product!

Anyway, Bruce. Excellent game and good luck with it in the future no matter what you decide to do with it. All I know is if there is ever a Kindle version, I will be first in line to buy it!